 | To Our Readers |
The Moscow Times welcomes letters to the editor. Letters for publication should be signed and bear the signatory's address and telephone number. |
So you're in London covering the G20 meeting, trying to follow the political stars while dodging flying fruit. On the evening of the first day, after washing the egg and tomatoes out of your hair, you call your best friend in Moscow, who asks: ???????? ?‚?‹ ???????µ?»?°? (Who did you see?). Having mastered declension of men's surnames, you reply: ?? ???????µ?»?° ???±?°????, ???µ?????µ???µ???° ?? ???°?€?????·?? (I saw Obama, Medvedev and Sarkozy). Your friend asks: ?? ?¶?‘??? (How about the wives?). And you say: ?”?°, ???????µ?»?° ???????µ?»?? ???±?°... ???±?°... (Yes, I saw Michelle Oba... Oba...). Long pause as you ponder: Does Mrs. Obama's name get declined or not?
Finally a question I can answer, since Michelle Obama is my ?‚?‘?·???° (someone with the same first name) and I have a non-Russian last name. Most foreign women's surnames and first names don't get declined. I am ???????µ?»?? ?‘?µ?€????, and the U.S. president's wife is ???????µ?»?? ???±?°???°, regardless of whether we are being seen, given something, accompanied, written about or possess something. So the proper response is: ?? ???????µ?»?° ???????µ?»?? ???±?°???° (I saw Michelle Obama).
Then your friend asks: ?????€???»?µ???° ?•?»???·?°???µ?‚?° ???‚?????»?° ?€???????? ?? ?‘?°?€?°?????? ???±?°??????? (Did Queen Elizabeth stand next to Barack Obama?). You say: ???µ?‚. ? ???????? ?? ?‘?°?€?°?????? ???±?°?????? ???‚?????» ???€?????† '???»??????, ?° ?????€???»?µ???° ???‚?????»?° ?€???????? ?? ???????µ?»?? ???±?°???° (No. Prince Philip stood next to Barack Obama, and the queen stood next to Michelle Obama). The problem is that although this is grammatically correct in Russian, style guides -- and well-spoken Russians -- recommend that you avoid applying two different rules in the same sentence. Instead, they'd probably say: ???€?????† '???»?????? ???‚?????» ?€???????? ?? ?‘?°?€?°?????? ???±?°??????, ?° ?????€???»?µ???° ???‚?????»?° ?€???????? ?? ???µ?€?????? ?»?µ???? ?????µ?€?????? (Prince Philip stood next to Barack Obama, but the queen stood next to the American first lady).
What if the Obama daughters were there? You have two options. In most rulebooks ???±?°???° can't be turned into the plural ???±?°???‹ (the Obamas), so you can either say: ?? ???????µ?»?° ???µ???‚?‘?€ ???±?°???° (I saw the Obama sisters) or ?? ???????µ?»?° ?????‡?µ?€?µ?? ?‘?°?€?°???° ???±?°???‹ (I saw the daughters of Barack Obama).
It's a bit clearer with other kinds of feminine surnames. Russian women's surnames ending in -?????°, -?µ???°, -?????°, or -?‹???° are pretty easy. Think -?? for the accusative case and -???? in all the other cases. ?? ???????µ?»?° ?????µ?‚?»?°???? ???µ?????µ???µ????. ?????° ???‚?????»?° ?€???????? ?? ?›?????????»???? ?????‚???????? (I saw Svetlana Medvedeva. She was standing next to Lyudmila Putina). Surnames that look like adjectives get declined like adjectives. ?? ???????°?»?° ???± ??»?»?µ ???????°?????????? (I wrote about Ella Shimanskaya).
Women's surnames that are masculine in form, like ?–???? (Zhuk)? No declension. Women's surnames that are "frozen forms" of the possessive, like ?–?????°???? (Zhivago) or ?????…?????? (Sukhovo)? No. Women's Ukrainian surnames like ???€?µ?…???±?µ?????? (Trehubenko?) Nope. Women's Lemko surnames like ?‘?µ?€?????? or ?‘?µ?€??i?? (Berdy)? Nope.
Women's Polish or Czech surnames ending in -?°? Yup. These generally get declined as if they ended in -?°??. If you were speaking about a concert tour of the Polish opera singer Ewa Bandrowska-Turska, you'd say: ???°???‚?€???»?? ?•???‹ ?‘?°?????€????????????-?????€???????? (Bandrowska-Turska's tour).
Now you are thinking: Who makes this stuff up? I have a theory. There is a secret ministry hidden on one of the small lanes behind Red Square called ???????????‚?µ?€???‚???? ?’?€?µ?????????‚?? (the Ministry of Spite). There the meanest, most spiteful, most devilishly annoying people in Russia sit around dreaming up new visa regulations, new laws for company registration and all the rules for declensions. And as long as they exist, our lives will be miserable.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.